


Project: Return

by hannabeans



Category: iKON (Korea Band)
Genre: Adding characters as I go, Alternate Universe, Crimes & Criminals, Drug Dealing, Mild Language, Minor Violence, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Spies & Secret Agents, Undercover Missions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:54:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25695379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannabeans/pseuds/hannabeans
Summary: Team leader Kim Jinhwan is tasked with searching for the intelligence agency's lost undercover agents after an attack on the headquarters that wiped their information clean. With a dangerous deal about to take place in the black market and the spread of a new drug, Jinhwan is at a race with time to recover the rest of the members of his old team - but without knowing anything about their identities.
Relationships: Goo Junhoe/Kim Jinhwan, Kim Hanbin | B.I/Kim Jiwon | Bobby
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic here and English isn't my first language so please be kind!  
> I appreciate all comments and criticisms, and thank you for taking the time to check out this story.  
> Enjoy! :)

** STATUS REPORT **

**_SUBJECT:_ ** _INVESTIGATION ON <DP> ORGANISATION – OPERATION ‘0612’_

**_DATE:_ ** _JUNE 13, 2019_

**BACKGROUND**

_DP INTERNATIONAL CRIME ORGANISATION (‘DP’) has displayed growing involvement in the black market. The rate of their activity has increased by 47% since 2015, showing participation in the drug trade, weapons trade, and an intention to further their partnerships with overseas criminal organisations. The most recent evidence collected by our undercover agents contains a rough plan for a new project known as DAHLIA._

**i. DAHLIA**

_Currently, there are only two known facts regarding project DAHLIA. Firstly, it is a new drug that is still in research, and secondly, it is expected to be introduced to the black market within the next two to four years._

_From the last accounts sent by our agents, DP has directed over 30% of its offshore funds to an organisation dubbed as ‘LAB’._

_W_ _e presume that DP plays the role of an investor in the research of DAHLIA, and will bid for the right to deal exclusively._

**ii. 0612 – THE OPERATION**

_We launched Operation 0612 after receiving a tip from one of our agents from batch G-150915. The tip detailed a meeting location of DP’s teams and a few potential buyers. The content that was to be exchanged between DP and the buyers was said to be a trial sample of DAHLIA._

_A team from the special crimes unit was dispatched from the police headquarters, arriving at 0230 KST. The arrest was completed by 0330 KST._

_However, the suspects were not members from the core teams of DP and were identified to be runners located in Seoul. The ‘potential buyers’ were identified to be members from one of the small local gangs._

_Among them, the suspect KSG has the biggest lead, but it was not enough for us to discover any of DP’s recent plans._

_It is not known if the tip was a deliberate mistake or a leak in plans, but KSG has provided us a potential list of names of suspects that will be involved in DAHLIA. The profile of the suspects can be found enclosed herewith._

**iii. 0612 – THE CYBER-ATTACK**

_The YG PRIVATE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY (‘YG’) HEADQUARTERS faced a sudden cyber-attack._

_Our security team analysed the perpetrator’s pattern, which suggests that it was not a planned attack. However, the methods used were very sophisticated and the perpetrator has a quick reaction time, nearly overpowering our security team several times. The attack ended abruptly, and the aim of the perpetrator seemed to be our undercover agent database._

_The system has wiped out the details of our agents as a defence mechanism. Information that has been erased includes our undercover agents from batches G-150915, T-140817, and S-160816._

_It would take some time for the other directors and myself to retrieve our agents’ information and restore their identities._

**_SIGNED BY:_ ** _KWON JI YONG (B-880818)_

* * *

**0830 KST. 30 TH AUGUST 2024. SEOUL, KOREA –**

Kim Jinhwan takes a sip out of the Styrofoam cup someone had stuffed in his hand a few hours ago, not even wincing at the bitter taste of the now-cold coffee.

His gaze was fixed on the red light above the operating theatre, anxiously waiting for it to turn off. His frustration led to the incessant tapping of his foot against the polished floor, a damaged file clutched in his grip.

The bruising and bags beneath his eyes indicated his lack of sleep, his jaw still taut from the events of the night before. He had been sitting in one of the uncomfortable plastic benches for the whole night now, and had become almost numb to the hospital’s pungent smell of disinfectant.

Finally, the red light above the operating theatre flickered off, and the sound of the doors sliding open pulled him out of his spiralling thoughts. His head snaps upwards to meet the weary gaze of the surgeon, one he recognises easily as Dr. Kim Jinwoo.

“How… How is Mr. Kwon’s situation?” Jinhwan asks, voice hoarse.

Jinwoo sighs and removes his mask.

He had a rough night as well; the hospital had been in a mess when the alarm suddenly rang the night before, following the news of an explosion and a large fire breaking out in the YG Intelligence Agency’s headquarters. All hands were required as injured officers were being sent to their hospital batch after batch, with Jinwoo leading the eight-hour-long surgery on one of the agency’s director.

“He’s out of critical condition for now, but it doesn’t look good. He took a lot of impact from the blast and the burns are very severe. We’ve managed to stop the bleeding, but he suffered a trauma to the head. We can’t say for sure when he will regain consciousness.” Jinwoo explains.

“Dr. Kim, can I…”

“No visitors,” Jinwoo interrupts. “We’ll be transferring him to the intensive care unit to keep an eye on him. We’ll notify you when his condition is better.”

Jinhwan opens his mouth to argue, but the words don’t make it past his lips. His expression visibly crumbles, and Jinwoo notices the dazed look in his eyes.

“Jinhwan,” he calls softly. “I know you have a lot on your shoulders, but there’s no point in visiting him now. Just do what you have to and leave the rest to the hospital.”

He adds, “There’s a reason why he called you in, right?”

Jinhwan stares at the other man strangely, but his mind was too muddled to dwell on it.

“… Thank you, Dr. Kim.”

Jinwoo pats his shoulder as a consolation and plucks the cup out of his hand to take a sip before taking his leave. “… This is disgusting.” He mutters, tossing the cold coffee in a bin on his way out.

Jinhwan sits back down on the cold plastic chair the moment Jinwoo is out of sight, deep in thought.

Perhaps Mr. Kwon had already foreseen the dangers to the situation or received a tip about it when he had explained everything to Jinhwan before, but he realised now that he was truly on his own.

He had received a summon from Mr. Kwon of the YG Intelligence Agency just before the explosion happened, an occurrence that has never happened to anyone in the police force.

As a team leader of the special crimes unit in the police force, Jinhwan was hardly in contact with other departments, much less an intelligence agency that belonged to a separate and private branch of the government.

However, he knew that the summon entailed an urgent mission. After all, Mr. Kwon used to be one of the best in the police force until he left to enter the intelligence agency. Everyone in the force knew his name and achievements, dubbing him a legend was perhaps an understatement.

“Kim Jinhwan. Team leader of the special investigation and crimes unit in the police department. Entered the police department at the age of 21 and became the team leader at 26.” Director Kwon Jiyong recited as he flipped through Jinhwan’s file. “I see that you have a list of impressive achievements during your time as the leader.”

Jinhwan stood in front of Jiyong with his hands tucked nervously in front of him. He nodded stiffly as Jiyong’s gaze lifted to look at him, sharp eyes intimidating.

“But of course, that isn’t all,” Jiyong said, closing the file. He leaned back into his chair and ordered, “Agent 0207, Batch G-150915. Report your status.”

Jinhwan’s eyes widened slightly at hearing the familiar series of numbers, memories of his time in training came flooding back.

They were undercover agents handpicked by the YG Intelligence Agency from a pool of trainees, and after almost 4 years of gruelling training, their team was formed and given the code G-150915. They were then assigned to a handler codenamed ‘GD’, and upon receiving each of their missions, went their separate ways.

As they had worn masks during their entire period as trainees, he didn’t know the faces of the teammates he had trained countless days and sleepless nights with nor the face of his handler even if he would meet them on the street. It was a security policy so that the agents’ identities would be safe.

“Agent Kim Jinhwan, codename JAY. Batch G-150915 agent number 0207, reporting for service.”

Jiyong smiled in satisfaction. He had watched these kids train, grow up, and mature, and he was proud of their achievements.

“It’s nice to finally meet you properly, Jinhwan.”

“You too, sir.” Jinhwan had answered excitedly.

It had been a whole nine years ever since they had left the facility and returned to society with their new identities as undercover agents. Over the years, he would always wonder where his other teammates were, whether he had come across them before and whether there would come a day they would reunite.

Although he didn’t know how they looked like, they all had been close during their time in training, and he looked forward to the day he could finally meet them properly.

Jiyong’s smile vanished, replaced with a stern expression. “Unfortunately, we have no time to catch up,” he said gravely. “Agent 0207, you are now assigned as the leader of Project Return. I see that you participated in Operation 0612?”

Jinhwan nodded. He was part of the police team that raided the factory that had been tipped off to them as the meeting point for the trade. News of the raid had been sealed after that, and all he knew was that the suspects apprehended were not part of the inner circle and mostly useless.

“Wasn’t it a failure?” he asked.

“Not exactly.” Jiyong ran a hand across his glass table. The surface darkened as the centre of the table lit up to show a digital report, the table akin to a monitor screen.

“We managed to learn about the black market’s plans to create a new drug known as ‘Dahlia’. While it was just a rough plan years ago, it’s become a reality now. Dahlia is ready to launch, and buyers are ready to bid for the opportunity to trade it exclusively. We have received news that the auction is to be held sometime next month.”

He tapped the screen and a chart of known components appeared. There was not much and no description of how Dahlia worked, but the report had stated that it was likely to have a high addiction rate and based on the dose of the drug, could immobilise a grown adult in a few minutes, even rendering a person paralysed if serious.

“After Operation 0612, some of our agents have cut contact with headquarters. We took it as a normal occurrence at first, so we decided not to take action to prevent accidentally exposing our agents. But it seems like things have changed. DP has tightened its control on all of the news going out of the organisation. We can’t confirm the status of our agents, but we must try to get in contact with them again.”

He looked at Jinhwan, expression grim. “This is a dangerous matter. Your mission for Project Return is to retrieve the members of your team and aid them in completing their tasks as soon as possible, especially before the drug reaches the public.”

He lowered his voice, “Do not trust anyone else outside of the YG Intelligence Agency. There might have been unexpected changes, so be careful with the agents you come in contact with…”

Before he could continue, their conversation had been interrupted by the ringing of Jiyong’s phone. Frowning, he dismissed Jinhwan. “We’ll continue this conversation later, agent 0207. You can go retrieve the old case file I’ve placed on the desk in fifth floor data storage room. I’ve also managed to compile most of our agents’ information over the years, you’ll find it all in the file.”

“Be careful Jinhwan,” he added in a gentler tone. “And be safe.”

Jinhwan nodded and took his leave, closing the door behind him as Jiyong answered the call. Everything after that had happened in a blur of screams, and just a few minutes later, the YG headquarters was up in flames.

He barely remembered taking the lift down to the fifth floor, and had just arrived when a few loud explosions occurred somewhere in the building. He felt the tremor of the explosion, and the heat from the blast singed his skin.

The fire had spread quickly, and the staff in the building evacuated as fast as they could. Jinhwan could remember himself running towards the data storage room with the file in mind, hastily avoiding the people that was running against his direction.

Unfortunately, the data storage room was already consumed by flames when he had arrived. He tore the door open quickly, ignoring the heat of the metal that burned his palm. Upon spotting the opened envelope and scattered papers, he had tried to salvage as many as he could, putting out the flames that licked the edge of his sleeve as he ran out of the heart of the fire.

It was later that he learned that the source of the explosions were the directors’ offices, the other end of the data storage room on the fifth floor, and the security team’s office at the floor above.

It resulted in the current situation, where the director lay unconscious in the intensive care unit, staff members being treated in various rooms of the hospital and the rest of the unscathed members of the intelligence agency striving to recover as much information as they could.

Jinhwan had narrowly escaped, and although he had managed to save the old case file, most of the papers had been lost in the fire.

Among the few pieces, he had managed to grab Jiyong’s old case report, the suspect KSG’s records and statement, and a half-burnt piece of paper that supposedly contained the details of one of his old team members.

He blinks. It’s still a start somewhere.

He squints at the incomplete paper in his hands, piecing the words at the charred edges and trying to make sense of the name. Upon putting the letters together, he stands up and immediately sets off to search for his first lead.

One of the agents he had to retrieve as part of Project Return.

One of the members of his old team that Jiyong had assigned him to find.

Codename, EZRA.

Agent Kim Donghyuk.


	2. Chapter 2

**0400 KST. 31 ST AUGUST 2024. OUTSKIRTS OF SEOUL – **

A young man stumbles into a seemingly abandoned warehouse located at the foot of one of the many mountains around the area, hidden by a grove of overgrown trees and hedges.

He grunts in pain as his wounded shoulder accidentally brushed against a stray metal panel, and takes hesitant steps in the dark, squinting unsurely.

They had told him that as long as he completed his task, someone would be waiting for him here to bring him back to the syndicate. He would be promoted and invited to join one of the core teams, tag along with them on their deals. They had promised him wealth and power at his fingertips, a cut in the world of sin.

“Who are you?” a rough voice asks.

He was still indulging in his fantasies of the future when he belatedly felt the cold metal pressing against his temple. He shudders at the contact and hisses when a hand reaches out to yank the metal badge pinned on his shoulder, tugging his shirt against his burned and wounded skin.

“A cop?” another man chuckles from his side, tone lighter than the other one.

The young man couldn’t properly make out the faces of the two men in the dark, only two silhouettes – a tall one in front of him, and a shorter one beside him holding a gun to his temple.

“You’re far from home, officer,” the shorter man laughs again, tossing the metal badge on the floor.

“N-No! No, I’m not part of the police, please!” the young man denies quickly. “I’m with DP! I-I’m… I’m looking for Kim Hanbin!”

_Kim Hanbin._

They knew the name, of course.

Anyone who was involved in their line would know.

“What do you want with him?” the shorter man questions again after a pause, but his tone was much more serious than before.

The young man gulps.

Suddenly, the pain from his wounds and burns were nothing compared to the fear spreading through his body. While he had yet to know the faces of these men, he knows that one wrong word would be enough to place a bullet through his head.

“I… I was sent to the police force as a mole. My task was to blow up the YG Intelligence Agency and they said… they asked me to come back and look for Kim Hanbin. They…They promised that he’ll take me in and give me a place on his team if I completed my mission. I-”

“Who are ‘they’?” the taller man suddenly asks, his rough voice making it sound more threatening than he intended.

“I-I don’t know! I was just assigned the mission when I first joined DP and…” the young man murmurs.

He pauses before displaying a change in demeanour.

“Where’s Kim Hanbin!” he shouts, suddenly receiving a burst of confidence from the thought that his future as part of DP’s high ranks was secured. “He surely received his orders. Just you watch, I’ll be part of his team and you’ll regret! I-”

A muffled gunshot interrupts his tirade, replacing his slurred words with a single scream of pain as he crumpled to the floor, the bullet lodging perfectly behind his knee.

A pair of expensive leather shoes appear in front of the young man’s eyes as a third man appears from the shadows, a silenced gun in his hand.

The young man shudders in fear as he arched his neck upwards to take a look, only to meet a pair of dark eyes staring down at him coldly. 

“I’m Kim Hanbin,” the third man says. “Jaewon’s right, you’re far from home.”

He hands his gun to the taller man.

“I never received any orders to help you,” his gaze drifts to the sewn nametag on the young man’s bloodied uniform. “I’m afraid you’re mistaken, Officer Lee.”

“You’re Kim Hanbin,” the young man mutters. “Please! I really was assigned by DP! They said you would help me! You have orders, Kim Hanbin!”

Two loud gunshots echo the empty warehouse, following by the sound of a body completely collapsing to the floor.

A moment of silence hangs in the air before Hanbin and the taller man open their mouths.

“…What the fuck, Jaewon.”

“…Why did you shoot him for?”

“…Oh. Was I not supposed to?”

* * *

Kim Donghyuk wasn’t hard to find – and for that Jinhwan sighed in relief.

There hadn’t been a lot of tears when Jinhwan tracked him down within three days. The pair hugged and talked for a while before jumping into the main task right away. In fact, with the other man’s help, they made huge progress in their search for information.

As much progress as they could make in a week, anyway.

Donghyuk had been assigned to the police force just like him but under the intelligence and technology department.

Each of them had trained in a special field, and Donghyuk had excelled in anything technology-related, especially when it required him to hack into systems to retrieve heavily encrypted documents just like they needed to right now.

Jinhwan enters Donghyuk’s workspace with two cups of coffees, where multiple monitors were displayed across an entire table, a glass shelf of full books and files in a corner, and a pile of papers stacked on another desk.

“Jinhwan-hyung, just in time,” the younger man calls. “I’ve managed to find a few things on the suspects from Mr. Kwon’s case file.”

He displays the profiles of the two men as Jinhwan pulls a chair to sit.

“Song Mino.”

He introduces the first one. The man in the photo had dyed blonde hair, tattoos decorating his skin. He had fierce, angled features and sharp eyes that were staring at somewhere on his left, labret piercing catching the light.

“First joined the syndicate in 2014, currently one of the leaders of the core teams. Usually spotted in the syndicate’s illegal arms trades and is responsible for arranging and contacting their buyers.”

“Was involved in a shooting at a port in Thailand in 2016 where ten were wounded and two were shot dead. A deal that went wrong.”

Donghyuk swipes to the next profile.

The second man was dressed from head to toe in black, the opened collar of his button-down shirt revealing a hint of a tattoo. A pair of yellow sunglasses perched atop his tall nose, a pair of large eyes staring from behind them.

“Kim Hanbin. Entered the syndicate in 2016 and made his way up the ranks since then. Kicked out of the police training academy in 2015 for violence against an instructor and was recruited into the syndicate shortly after. Currently the leader for another one of the core teams.”

“Involved in a few major altercations of the years, including blowing up a street market in a rural part of Myanmar and a gunfight in a casino in Macau, killing fourteen and wounding eight. A wanted criminal in twelve countries, including ours.”

Jinhwan flips through a retrieved copy of the suspect KSG’s questioning. “KSG specifically named them? Saying that they would be involved in Dahlia?”

Donghyuk nods. “He said that they were fighting for a position in the syndicate’s board. I found intel indicating DP’s upcoming meeting this year, where they will take in a new board member.”

“Song Mino and Kim Hanbin are potential candidates. Taking over project Dahlia will strengthen their chances.” Jinhwan concludes. “Do we have any names on the current members of the board?”

“Unfortunately, no. There have been suspects over the years, but no specific leads. But…” Donghyuk pauses, pulling up two more profiles. “While investigating Song Mino and Kim Hanbin, I’ve found a few things on two members of Kim Hanbin’s team that he seems to regard more highly.”

“Jung Jaewon,” he introduces the first one.

A handsome young man was smiling in the photo, dark hair reaching the nape of his neck and tattoos all over his arms.

“Was a part of a small underground gang before joining DP in 2016. Had a blank period from 2017 onwards until he joined Kim Hanbin’s team in 2019.”

“And secondly, Koo Junhoe.”

The next man was dressed in a simple white shirt and black pants. His features were not entirely visible due to a black bucket hat pulled over his head, revealing only the curve of his nose and lips pulled in a grin.

“Entered the syndicate in 2015 and worked his way up from there. Worked with Kim Hanbin since 2017, even before he led his own team, and has been his right-hand man ever since.”

Jinhwan frowns. He ruled out the probability of the team leaders being spies for now due to the blood on their hands, but didn’t completely remove them from consideration.

“I think we can investigate more on Jung Jaewon and Koo Junhoe,” he tells Donghyuk, deciding to place the focus on the latter two first. “And keep track of Song Mino and Kim Hanbin’s movements if they’re involved in Dahlia. Did you find anything on the explosion?”

“Not yet,” Donghyuk says. “But I found something interesting.”

“I got the remnants of Mr. Kwon’s computer a few days ago. The bad news is that it’s heavily damaged, but the good news is that it isn’t destroyed. I thought that I might be able to repair it and see if there’s anything else I can retrieve. It’ll take some time, but hopefully, there’s something in there that might give us some leads.”

“That’s great,” Jinhwan says, feeling a sense of hope.

He feels like he’s been wandering in the dark, not knowing how to proceed or where to start looking. “What did you manage to find?”

“So far, I’ve managed to recover a CCTV footage. It just finished processing this afternoon, so I haven’t gotten the chance to watch it yet,” Donghyuk replies, moving aside to let Jinhwan have a better view of the screen. “It’s interesting because it’s not a full footage, more like a short clip that was cut out from the original.”

The footage was distorted, most likely from the damaged condition of its data, but clear enough for the two of them to know what they were watching.

It was the view inside of Jiyong’s office, the angle of the camera had his back facing towards them.

The footage was only twenty minutes long and was an old one, the corner of the video indicating the date to be 10th January 2021, 10:20 pm.

After five minutes of Jiyong just sitting there and being interrupted by the static of the damaged video a few times, the door of the office suddenly opens.

A tall man emerges, wearing a black oversized hoodie and black pants. His face was covered by a black bucket hat, but the angle of the camera was just enough to catch his side profile.

The familiar curve of his nose and lips had both Jinhwan and Donghyuk sucking in a deep breath, eyes wide in recognition.

The video had no audio and the man had barely opened his mouth even when he was speaking to Jiyong, making it hard for Jinhwan to read his lips. The man reached into his pocket and fished out a card, grinning as he handed it to Jiyong.

Jinhwan asks Donghyuk to pause the video to enlarge the image, trying to see if the card was of any significance.

After a few attempts, they managed to enhance the quality of the video just enough to catch the word that was embossed on the top of the card.

“The MOBB? What’s that?” Jinhwan squints, typing it in his phone to look it up.

“It’s a nightclub in Hongdae,” Donghyuk answers before he could go through the search results. “It’s really famous, I’ve even been there a few times almost a few years ago. The club’s huge and other than the queue being super long, everything else seemed normal to me.”

“But if it’s something that’s appearing here, I think we’ll need to investigate it.” Jinhwan states and Donghyuk nods in agreement.

They continued playing the video and watched as the man left the room after almost ten minutes. Jiyong pocketed the card before the footage ended abruptly and the monitor turned dark.

Jinhwan and Donghyuk both mirrored equally stern expressions, lips set into a line. They knew that they had just found a lead, perhaps even more than one.

They had recognised the man in the video that entered Jiyong’s office, and if they weren’t mistaken, Koo Junhoe was likely to be one of the undercovers from their team that they were looking for.


End file.
